Cities in the U.S. With Really Clean Air

Air pollution is a fact of life, but it can have serious effects on human health.

Air pollution, made up of things like noxious gases and fine particles produced by the burning of fossil fuels, can cause respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, pregnancy complications, and even death, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Exposure to air pollution exists in both urban and rural communities. Children, the elderly, and those suffering from respiratory disease, such as asthma, are the most vulnerable to air pollution.

To find some of the places in the U.S. with the cleanest air, we consulted Nomad List, a crowdsourced database that dynamically analyzes hundreds of thousands of data points in cities all over the world for things like cost of living, current weather, traffic, and air quality for people who work on the go.

Nomad List uses an Air Quality Index in which 0-25 is great air quality, 25-50 is good, above 50 becomes bad, and above 100 is very unhealthy.

All of the places on this list fall in the 'great' category, based on the annual average air quality provided by Nomad List.

Beacon, N.Y.

Beacon, N.Y.

Pollutants: 4 micrograms per cubic meter

Beacon is a town of about 15,000 on the Hudson River north of New York City.

Photo: Jon Platek /Wikipedia

Fairfax, Va.

Fairfax, Va.

Pollutants: 4 micrograms per cubic meter

Fairfax is about 20 miles from Washington, D.C.

Photo: Shutterstock

Lake Tahoe, Calif.

Lake Tahoe, Calif.

Pollutants: 5 micrograms per cubic meter

Photo: Shutterstock

Black Rock City, Nev.

Black Rock City, Nev.

Pollutants: 5 micrograms per cubic meter

Black Rock City is a temporary city erected annually in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, about 100 miles from Reno. The Burning Man festival is held there.

Photo: Mike Q Victor /Wikipedia

Princeton, N.J.

Princeton, N.J.

Pollutants: 5 micrograms per cubic meter

Photo: Jay Yuan / Shutterstock

Battle Creek, Mich.

Battle Creek, Mich.

Pollutants: 5 micrograms per cubic meter

Battle Creek is a town of about 51,000 that sits at the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek rivers, about halfway between Detroit and Chicago.